As more presses cede publishing decisions to finance, marketing and other departments removed from the academy, we are determined that these decisions will remain with editors. We know from experience that good publishing results from a close alliance between author and editor.

We are convinced that authors, teachers, and book-buyers will welcome an independent press devoted to publishing scholarly books in the best tradition of university presses; innovative, thought-provoking texts for college courses; and crossover trade books intended to convey scholarly trends to an educated readership. Our approach emphasizes substance and quality of thought over ephemeral trends. We offer a forum for responsible voices representing the diversity of opinion on college campuses, and take special pride in several series designed to provide students with the pros and cons of hotly contested issues.

A generation ago, academic publishers relied on a well-funded library market to support new academic books, even highly specialized ones. Now that books compete with journals and electronic products for shrinking library budgets, publishers must search for new customers wherever they are. To reach the market-place of the 21st century, Rowman & Littlefield has launched aggressive and innovative efforts including:

Long recognized as the most effective way to sell academic books, direct mail forms the basis of our marketing program. Every season we mail catalogs of new and recent books in each field, flyers that cluster hand-selected titles to targeted mailing lists, and flyers devoted to individual books for use in the classroom. In addition, each new title receives its own promotional flyer mailed to approximately 1,000 of the most likely buyers.

Click here to request the most recent R&L catalog.

Web Site

We respect the fact that the scholarly community built the Internet to be used as a tool for disseminating information and communicating with colleagues. Our Web site is designed to be such a resource. The site contains catalogs, tables of contents and soon will contain sample chapters of new books, teaching aids, and textbook updates and graphics as well as information about upcoming conferences and other special activities. Users may also order books and request examination copies.

Space Advertising

We advertise regularly in The New York Review of Books, leading journals of opinion, and the major professional journals in our fields.

General Bookstore Sales

Our sister company, National Book Network, is the nation's second largest distributor of independent trade presses. National Book Network (NBN) generates over 40 million dollars per year in sales to book chains and independent bookstores, giving our books a strong link to trade distribution unmatched by most other independent academic presses. Our broadest interest titles appear in the seasonal NBN catalog. In addition, a team of nationally recognized commissioned sales representatives presents the entire Rowman & Littlefield list to the leading wholesalers, superstores, and independent and college bookstores.

College Marketing and Text Development

Carefully targeted direct mail to key college course mailing lists is only the beginning of our efforts to promote our classroom books. Exam copies, telemarketing, follow-up mailings, Internet updates, and other traditional as well as new approaches to the college market ensure that professors know about our books, examine them in a timely way, and then receive the best customer service available when placing bookstore orders.

Market research for new and revised editions of core texts as well as innovative publishing of textbook supplements on timely and topical subjects make us the publisher of choice for authors, professors, and students alike.

International Sales

All Rowman & Littlefield books are available in Europe and the United Kingdom. We provide complete promotional services including individual book flyers, subject flyers, catalogs, and other promotional vehicles, as well as warehousing, order fulfillment, convention representation in Europe and the U.K., and many other direct, on-the-scene marketing activities.

Rowman & Littlefield
PO Box 317
OX2 9RU
UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: +44 (0) 01865-865466
Fax: +44 (0) 01865-862763
E-mail: RandL@oppuk.co.uk

In Japan, we are represented by United Publishers Services and we work with a variety of literary agencies and publishers to arrange translations and foreign rights sales.

United Publishers Services Limited
Kenkyu-sha Building 9 Kanda
Surogadai 2-chome Chiyoda-ku,
Tokyo JAPAN
Tel: (03) 3291 4541 Fax: (03) 3293 3484

In addition, we aggressively seek copublishing arrangements or alliances with publishers in countries that are hard to reach, and work on a title-by-title basis with a network of distributors around the world to ensure that each book is promoted in all appropriate overseas markets.

Bookmaking

How many times has an author signed a publishing agreement and submitted a final text only to have it languish in an editorial logjam? Rowman & Littlefield produces books according to high production and manufacturing standards on production schedules that are the envy of the industry. Most of our books are transformed from final manuscript to bound books within six to nine months. Our outstanding staff of design and production professionals oversees a stable of talented freelance designers, copyeditors, and proofreaders committed to providing every manuscript the editorial attention it deserves and seeing that each new book is readable and handsomely produced. All books are printed to American Library Association standards.